Matthew Hussey explains how metaphors reshape our relationship with problems. He uses the image of an arrow pulled backward to show how difficulty creates tension that launches you forward, and shares how his father's financial struggles fueled his own drive.
Hello, it's Matthew Hussey here. Today I want to talk about the power of metaphor and how a simple metaphor can change the entire way you look at a problem. Somebody sent me this in a text message the other day and immediately it had an effect. You know when you hear, I feel like we live in a world now where we hear so many cliched quotes and it's like this platitudinous society where everything is on Pinterest, there's just quote after quote after quote and we become numb to all these inspirational things that are around us because it's everything all the time. But this one person sent me a text message and it screamed at me and I'll tell you why in a second. So the text message was this. By the way, this is probably a quote from someone really fantastic or not, I just don't know who said it, so if you do know who said it, write in. An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you down with difficulties, it means it's going to launch you into something great. So just focus and keep aiming. Now, I want to extend this metaphor and tell you why it meant so much to me. When I read this, I was thinking about how we look at problems. Many of us use certain metaphors for the problems we have, like these things that are weighing me down. I've got all these stresses on my shoulders. There's all this stuff that just I I just feel like I can't move for all the problems I have. People get very, and here's another metaphor, they get very paralyzed by their fear and their problems. And that stops them from doing anything because of the way that they look at it. And for me, a simple metaphor can change everything. And when I read this, here's the way I thought about it. You imagine that idea of having to pull an arrow back before it shoots. What happens is that rope, the string, is becoming taut. and when it becomes taught, you get all of this tension. That tension is what gives it the spring. It's what gives it the lift. And you'd only get that tension by pulling it back. And I know when I've thought about my life and the way it's gone, the drive that I have, which sometimes I've, people have said, well, you just have an inherent drive. That's just the way you are. I know that so much of the drive that I have has come from experiences. It's come from. the ups and downs that my dad went through and, you know, going bankrupt one minute, having money the next, going bankrupt again. It was the uncertainty, the insecurity, and all of it made me go into school and talk about how I was gonna conquer the world and I'd never be unstable, I'd never be insecure, I'd always make sure that I built a stable grounding in life. It made me driven in a completely different way. While other people were letting their problems weigh them down, for me it was making that string tighter and tighter and tighter so that when eventually I let go, I had all of this momentum behind me. Another way of looking at it is like a wind up car, right? If you imagine every problem that you have that's creating stress or tension in your body is like you winding that car by another movement, another movement, another movement. And finally, when you put the car down and the rubber hits the road, that car is gonna go so fast because of all of that winding up that's happened from all of those problems. so right now, this is a simple message, but I really want you to take it on board. You, everyone has problems, right? And I know you have problems right now. They may be family problems, they may be social problems with your friends, they may be work problems, financial problems, they may be health problems. But every one of those problems can either be used to weigh you down or it can make that rope so taut that when you let it go, you're going to spring into something much greater. And that's what I want to allow your problems to do. Problems ain't going to disappear, but the way we use those problems and the momentum they can create can be completely different depending on which metaphor you use. So if you don't like that metaphor, I want you to find an even better metaphor than the one that I've talked about and make use of this change in language in your life. Take care my friends. If you want more information, check out my YouTube channel. It's Get the Guy Team and that's where I house all of my videos if you want to find more information. Other than that, I will see you soon. Thank you for having me.
